Game Of Thrones: Every Episode Ranked From Worst To Best

3. Blackwater (S2E9)

Written By: George R.R. Martin Directed By: Neil Marshall

The first episode to spend the entirety of its runtime at a single location, and the most successful to do so, and also the best George R.R. Martin-penned script, Blackwater was the episode where Game of Thrones truly showed just what it could deliver in terms of scale and spectacle.

The wildfire explosion is hauntingly beautiful, the way it explodes and and dances is truly stunning and ferocious, more so than anything we'd seen from the show up until this point, and it remains one of the most enduring pieces of imagery from the entire series.

The battle itself is brutal and savage. There's no sheen here, which isn't surprising now but was back then. Everything we see and hear is harrowing, from the screams and cries of men burning and drowning, to the fact that it's almost impossible to root for a side: both have characters we hate and ones we truly care about.

And it's that character that helps set this battle slightly apart from its contemporaries. In the midst of all the carnage, the show finds time for smaller moments: Cersei comes close to poisoning Tommen, to save him from suffering; she drunkenly Cersei spits verbal poison at Sansa, who later shares a touching scene with the Hound; Tyrion rises up to lead the charge and gives a rousing speech while Joffrey runs to his mummy; and Tywin Lannister rides in to save the day. It looks amazing, but also shows the horrors and cost of war, and helped push Game of Thrones into the realm of true TV greatness.